The present invention relates to bulk feeding devices used in the automated installation of printed circuit board components. In particular, the invention relates to a verification and lockout apparatus for a circuit component bulk feeder.
The ability to automate the selection and installation of surface-mounted electronic components to printed circuit board has improved the efficiency and speed of solid-state manufacturing. In modern circuit-building operations, bulk components are fed individually and automatically to surface-mounting machinery. The mounting machinery orients the components relative to the boards and installs them onto the boards. Separate or concurrent operations may then be implemented to solder or otherwise fuse the components to circuit vias on the boards.
Modern circuit mounting machinery typically operates very rapidly, and component installation operations can install several thousand component parts in a matter of minutes. These machines will often rapidly deplete component containers which are used to supply a bulk quantity of components to the installation machinery. This rapid depletion requires machine operators to constantly monitor the status of the machine supplies and change supply containers frequently.
In these mounting machines, bulk quantities surface-mount components are often supplied from cartridges or cassettes. Typically, the cassettes are installed using a common slidable interface with a feeder apparatus. The feeder apparatus transfers individual circuit parts from the inside of the bulk cassette to the mounting machinery. The bulk feeders are individually pre-configured to feed a particular kind of part to the mounting apparatus.
If a cassette containing one type of part is mistakenly installed onto a feeder configured to feed a different type of part, the feeder may malfunction and become jammed or damaged due to differences in the size or shape of the particular component part. More catastrophically, incorrect parts may be installed in an improper position on the circuit board, thereby rendering the board inoperable. This may result in wasted boards and components. At a minimum, the installation of an improper cassette can cause production lines to shut down and the overall efficiency of the board-mounting operation to decrease.